Kiss - Alive II - Original 1977 Casablanca Double LP Release in Near Mint

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Alive II Live album by Kiss Released November 29, 1977 Recorded April 2 - August 26–28, 1977 (live)
September 13–16, 1977 (studio) Genre Hard rock Length 71:26 Label Casablanca Producer Eddie Kramer, Kiss Kiss chronology Love Gun
(1977) Alive II
(1977) Gene Simmons
(1978) Singles from Alive II

1. "Shout It Out Loud"
   Released: November 29, 1977
2. "Rocket Ride"
   Released: February 22, 1978

Alive II is the second live album (and eighth overall) by American hard rock band Kiss, released in 1977. The band had released three albums (Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun) since the previous live outing, the seminal 1975 release Alive!, and the band drew upon the variety of new tracks, with Eddie Kramer producing.

Album information

The origins of Alive II go back to early 1977 when the band's manager Bill Aucoin suggested that Kramer record a live album during the evening show at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on April 2, 1977. The plan was to release a live album to give Kiss some much deserved time off before recording the album that would become Love Gun later that fall. Kramer finished work on the album, but Casablanca Records and Kiss deemed it unusable, and the band forged ahead with their Love Gun sessions.

Most of the live tracks on Alive II were recorded during the band's August 26–28 shows at the Los Angeles Forum while on their Love Gun Tour. The 3 p.m. soundchecks at the August 26 and 27 shows were recorded, and later used on the album (i.e. "I Stole Your Love") with crowd noise being dubbed in later. "Beth" and "I Want You" were lifted from the aborted Japanese live album and used on the finished Alive II. As the band did not want to duplicate songs included on Alive!, the songs chosen for the three live sides of the album were all drawn from Kiss' three preceding studio albums: Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun.

On the original double album, the songs on side four (tracks 6-10 on the second CD) are studio tracks recorded September 13–16, 1977. Although Ace Frehley was originally credited for lead guitar on the studio tracks, the remastered version released in 1997 confirmed what had been speculated by Kiss fans for years: Bob Kulick actually played lead guitar on three tracks ("All American Man", "Rockin' in the U.S.A." and "Larger Than Life"), not Frehley. Frehley's sole involvement for the studio songs was "Rocket Ride" (originally written for a solo album), on which he sang lead vocals and played both guitar and bass guitar.Paul Stanley played all guitars on "Anyway You Want It", which was originally recorded by the Dave Clark Five in 1964.

Several early copies of the album's cover featured a rare misprint of three additional songs ("Take Me", "Hooligan" and "Do You Love Me?") with a slightly altered song order. None of these additional songs appeared on the LP. On the misprint, "Take Me" is after "Detroit Rock City," with "King of the Night Time World" appearing after "Ladies Room" on Side 1. Side two features "Hooligan" after "Shock Me", which is placed after "Hard Luck Woman". On Side 3, "Do You Love Me?" appears after "God of Thunder", with "Beth" sandwiched between "I Want You" and "Shout It Out Loud". "Hooligan" and "Take Me" were performed on the 1977 Love Gun tour, and "Do You Love Me?" was performed on the Japanese tour that same year, making their consideration for inclusion with the second live album possible.

Reception

Coming off of a period of extensive touring, Alive II received a huge fan response and critical acclaim, reaching the number 7 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. The album has received praise from several critics. In a retrospective review, critic Greg Parto of Allmusic remarked that several tracks such as "Detroit Rock City", "Shock Me" and "Shout It Out Loud" featured an "adrenaline-charged" vibe.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Detroit Rock City" (Paul Stanley, Bob Ezrin) – 3:58
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
2. "King of the Night Time World" (Stanley, Ezrin, Kim Fowley, Mark Anthony) – 3:06
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA August 25–28, 1977
3. "Ladies Room" (Gene Simmons) – 3:11
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
4. "Makin' Love" (Stanley, Sean Delaney) – 3:13
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
5. "Love Gun" (Stanley) – 3:34
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977

Side two

6. "Calling Dr. Love" (Simmons) – 3:32
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
7. "Christine Sixteen" (Simmons) – 2:45
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
8. "Shock Me" (Ace Frehley) – 5:51
   • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977
9. "Hard Luck Woman" (Stanley) – 3:06
   • Recorded at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY, September 1977
10. "Tomorrow and Tonight" (Stanley) – 3:20
    • Recorded at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY, September 1977

Side three

11. "I Stole Your Love" (Stanley) – 3:36
    • Recorded at soundcheck, The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–26, 1977
12. "Beth" (Peter Criss, Ezrin, Stan Penridge) – 2:24
    • Recorded at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, April 2, 1977
13. "God of Thunder" (Stanley) – 5:16
    • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA August 25–28, 1977
14. "I Want You" (Stanley) – 4:14
    • Recorded at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, April 2, 1977
15. "Shout It Out Loud" (Stanley, Simmons, Ezrin) – 3:37
    • Recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, August 25–28, 1977

Side four

(New studio tracks)

16. "All American Man" (Stanley, Delaney) – 3:13 (Lead vocals – Stanley)
17. "Rockin' in the U.S.A." (Simmons) – 2:44 (Lead vocals – Simmons)
18. "Larger Than Life" (Simmons) – 3:55 (Lead vocals – Simmons)
19. "Rocket Ride" (Frehley, Delaney) – 4:07 (Lead vocals – Frehley)
20. "Anyway You Want It" (Dave Clark) – 2:33 (Lead vocals – Stanley)

• All new studio tracks were recorded at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ and Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY, September 1977.